Like so many people, I don’t have time to regularly cook impressive, well-rounded meals. It’s not that I dislike cooking but between work, friends, and working out, there aren’t enough hours in the day to research and prepare decent meals. Something’s got to give and oftentimes, it’s cooking. When I caught wind of Multo, I thought it might be the solution to my kitchen woes.

 

 

Engineered by CookingPal, Multo is the “ultimate, easy-to-use, all-in-one kitchen appliance.” It features over 10 different cooking functions, includes pre-programed step-by-step recipes, and is controlled by a dedicated tablet. It does everything: weigh, chop, knead, mix, cook, and steam food. The goal of the device is to allow the average cook to prepare delicious meals with minimal effort.

Out of the box, I was intimidated by Multo. I’m not a techy person, and the device is big and fancy. It includes a tablet and an app. I was afraid it would require hours of reading a manual, and I still wouldn’t be able to work it. Much to my surprise, the initial set up proved to be easy. Within minutes, I had the app downloaded and the appliance and tablet up and running.

After perusing the recipes available on the tablet, I was excited about my options. Recipes were broken down into categories: meals, dips, drinks, sides, and desserts. Due to the fact the device is new, options were limited but what was available sounded delicious.

For my first go, I opted to make a vegan chickpea curry.

After setting out my ingredients and firing up Multo, I quickly realized there was definitely a learning curve. Although the directions were step by step, figuring out how to measure, chop, and blend was challenging—but once I figured it all out, it made sense. Once I finished cooking, I engaged Multo’s self-clean mode and, after a few minutes, the device was sparkling clean.

Although there were a few hiccups in preparing the curry, it turned out delicious, like something you’d pick up at a restaurant rather than make in your own kitchen. After the curry, I went on to make a pasta alfredo, mango lassi, keto cookie dough, and a few smoothies of my own creation. With each recipe, I became more familiar with the device and saw the doors it could open for at-home cooking.

While some functions could be used in manual mode, I couldn’t figure out how to chop and blend unless I was following a recipe. Another function I’d like to see improved is when you add ingredients to the bowl between steps, it requires you to have the lid on for measuring, meaning you have to squeeze your ingredients in through the small opening in the lid. I understand the requirement is for safety reasons, but it would be nice to be able to fully remove the lid between steps and still be able to measure at the same time.

Another thing I noticed was there were some discrepancies between measurements for recipes on the tablet and in the app. The app seemed unnecessary with the tablet, so I typically went with what the tablet said but ideally the two would be in sync.

Something I really liked about Multo was the fact that for the most part, it was a one-pot experience and required minimal clean up. It was also nice that the device was self-cleaning; all that was required of me was adding some soap and water and hitting “start.” Additionally, the device is super powerful and I blown away by how well and quickly it chopped and mixed ingredients. Finely chopping vegetables and adding them to soups, curries, and even smoothies was a simple way to up my greens intake.

Multo is available at an early bird price of $799 but will eventually cost $999. For that price, it’s not something that I would personally buy but I can see the draw. It eliminates the need for multiple kitchen devices and allows you to do all of your cooking in one place. Multo was thoughtfully engineered and makes restaurant quality meals a realistic possibility. I imagine, with time, the device will only get better. Happy cooking!

[$999; cookingpal.com]

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